XBox 360 3 Red Lights Problem - Which Repair Option is Best For You?

So you're cruising along playing your favorite Xbox 360 "shoot'em up game" when all of a sudden "IT" happens! Bam! You've been hit with the infamous Xbox 360 3 red lights problem.

How can you tell? Well, your screen freezes, rebooting your xBox doesn't help, and you now have 3 red flashing lights on the front panel where you used to see 4 steady green lights. Your gaming has come to a sudden halt.

What you've just experienced is a hardware failure that has struck over 30% of all Xbox 360 owners. Those three flashing red lights indicate a hardware failure caused by overheating inside the GPU (general processing unit). You see, when the engineers designed the 360 they didn't design in enough cooling to dissipate the tremendous heat generated by the processors. So the result is with extended play or possibly defective chips inside your Xbox you end up with what has now been commonly known as the "Red Ring of Death". Now what do you do?

In the overall scheme of things what you need to do is improve the cooling inside the GPU. That means getting rid of the heat buildup faster.

Here's a quick rundown of your options...

1. If your XBox is still covered by Microsoft's extended three year warranty (which covers just the 3 red lights error) your only practical choice is to send the unit back to Microsoft for repair. The reason for this is that if you open your Xbox unit, you immediately void the warranty. So if you have any other trouble with your X360 Microsoft won't repair it for free.

2. If you are not covered by Microsoft's warranty any more, you have a few other options open to you. If you are not so mechanically inclined, your best bet is probably to send your Xbox 360 out to one of the third party repair services that have sprung up since this problem has become more and more common. I recently found a person on eBay who repaired 360's that specifically had the three red lights problem. The charge was around $45 with free return shipping. That particular unit has been working perfectly ever since.

3. If you are a do-it-yourself type person, there are several 3 red light repair guides available for instant download on the Internet. Just type in the "Xbox 360 3 red light repair guide reviews" and you will get a long list of websites that review the various guides. Be careful when using these sites for honest objective information. The majority of the sites are really just glorified advertisements for a specific guide that the website owner sells as an affiliate. In any case, all these guides now come with videos so that you really don't even need to refer to the manuals anymore. I recently repaired my son's Xbox using just the videos that came with a repair guide.

4. You're fourth option is to purchase a fan unit that you install right on the box. This fan add-on essentially sucks more air out than the simple convective cooling (i.e. heat naturally rising through the ventilation holes) that was designed into the original XBox. The fan add-ons cost about $40. They've had mixed reviews. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. If the chips inside the GPU have become damaged because of the excessive heat build-up, no amount of extra cooling is going to improve your situation.

Whichever option you decide on to get your hardware repaired, you will be playing again soon enough. Sure it's frustrating but then again the Xbox is a machine and machines to break so be patient don't panic and pick the repair option that best fit your situation.

After our evaluation, we've selected this one as the best XBox 360 3 Red Lights Repair Guide.

Can "Do-It-Yourself'ers" Really Fix The XBox 360 3 Red Lights Problem?

If you're a XBox 360 gamer, you've either had the XBox 360 3 Red Lights Problem yourself or you know someone who has. That's just the way it is. You've probably also heard about the guides out there that supposedly tell you how to fix this problem yourself. The question of the day is "Do they really work?" Can a guy or gal with a few simple tools really get their XBox 360 back up and running in about an hour? Well, I'm here to tell you that the answer is an emphatic "Yes". I know because I've done it. Not just once, but over and over.

Have you ever heard of "Occam's Razor?" Well if not, it's a wonderful little principle put forth by a 14th century English logician and Franciscian friar named William of Occam that states (and I'm paraphrasing here) "All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best". In more modern terms, I guess it's the KISS principle - "Keep It Simple, Stupid". So what does this have to do with getting back to playing Halo 3 on your XBox 360? When I was first faced with the XBox 360 3 red lights problem, I was overwhelmed. It was my son's system and he was heartbroken that his game had stopped working. I didn't know what to do and ended up doing all kinds of research, Googling it left and right, learning everything I could about the problem and what one was supposed to do to get their system back up and running.

I'm here to tell you that the best thing you can do, if your XBox 360 has the 3 red lights problem (aka the Red Ring of Death) is to keep it simple. Don't over think it. Don't over research it. Just keep it simple. Yes you can fix this problem yourself and yes it does take about an hour (maybe 2 if you're overly cautious like me).

There are several guides out there that tell you exactly how to fix this problem. I bought one and had my son's XBox 360 back up and running in about 90 minutes. Then I had the bright idea of buying broken XBoxes on eBay, fixing them, and re-selling them. So I bought 4 different 3 red lights fix-it guides, I bought 4 XBox 360's on eBay that had the 3 red lights problem and I proceeded to fix each one using a different guide each time. I wanted to see if all the guides really worked. The answer is yes, they all really work.

Each guide presents essentially the same solution. But they all do it a bit differently and with various levels of clarity. In my opinion, one of them is clearly superior to the rest in terms of providing clear step-by-step instructions and supporting documentation. After reading the many repair guides out there, this 3 Red Lights Guide is the best..

If you've got the 3 red lights problem, good luck. If you choose to fix it yourself, the guide I chose as the best will get you through this fix and have you back up and fighting the aliens in no time.

The Official Microsoft Support Page

Today I thought I'd take a pause and let you read Microsoft's official explanation of the XBox 360's 3 Red Lights problem. Nothing like getting your information straight from the horse's mouth. A search of the Microsoft XBox 360 support area of their website brought me to what you see below.

Now understand that depending on your situation, this information may or may not be helpful. Basically what Microsoft is saying is that you should first check your warranty status. If you're covered, great. Ship it back and they will, at their option, repair or replace the X360 unit. It's important to note that even though you'll be without your XBox 360 for the better part of two weeks, it's still worth it to go this route because if you open up the XBox 360 main unit, you automatically void the warranty. If you're out of warranty anyway, however, things aren't quite so simple. Microsoft will still fix it for you, but you pay their repair charge which is currently around $140.

The other two options, which I've discussed here in some depth, are to use a 3rd party repair service (figure around $50-$70 and 7-10 days), or get one of the Fix-it-Yourself repair guides. I went through the top 4 Xbox 360 3 red lights repair guides and posted my reviews.

Here's Microsoft's official position taken from their website (I've removed irrelevant navigation links for easier reading):

========================================================================

Xbox 360: Three red lights flash on the Ring of Light

Article ID : 907534
Last Review : September 15, 2007
Revision : 5.4

SYMPTOMS
You see three lights on the Ring of Light (RoL) flash red on the front of your Xbox 360 console. The upper-right quadrant light is the only light that does not flash red.

CAUSE
The three flashing red lights may indicate that your Xbox 360 console has experienced a hardware failure. Please read the letter that discusses warranty changes for three flashing red light hardware failures. To read this letter, please visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.xbox.com/support/petermooreletter.htm

MORE INFORMATION

If you suspect that you are experiencing this issue, you can submit a console-repair request online. However, before you submit your request, we ask that you first try the following two steps to verify that you are indeed experiencing this issue:

1. When you turn on the console, examine the light on the power supply. The power supply light should illuminate green even if the three lights on the Ring of Light flash red. If the power supply light is not green, please follow the steps that are listed in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles:

906101 Xbox 360: The power supply light is red
906102 Xbox 360: The power supply light is orange
906103 Xbox 360: The power supply light is not illuminated

2. Turn off the console. Wait 10 seconds, and then turn on the console again to see whether the symptom occurs again. If your console continues to display the three flashing red lights, your console may have to be repaired. For information about how to start the repair process online, please visit http://www.xbox.com/support, and then click Console Repair in the upper-right section of the Web page.

Note: The online console repair service is currently not available in all countries or regions.

If you would rather contact Xbox Customer Support directly, please visit http://www.xbox.com/support/contact for information about how to do this.

APPLIES TO

• Microsoft XBox 360 Video Game System
• Microsoft Xbox 360 Hard Drive (20 GB)
• Microsoft Xbox

==========================================================================

So there you have it. Whatever your current situation, I hope this helps to clarify your best course of action to get your XBox 360 repaired. And again, if you're out of warranty and are a do-it-yourself'er, you can get this problem fixed cheap and fast by following these guides.

Good Luck!

"One Light, Two Lights, Three Lights More..."

The XBox 360 3 Red Lights Problem isn't limited to 3 Red Lights. Did you know that you can also experience a 1 Red Light Problem? How about a 2 Red Light Problem? Yep. Although these XBox red light error cousins of the Red Ring of Death aren't as common, they're certainly every bit as frustrating. Here's a little more about them.

First off, you need to see which of the red lights on your XBox are red. It's a diagnostic code that points you in the right general direction of the source of the problem.

One Red Light
If you see the lower-right light in the 4 light circle flashing red, you're having a hardware problem. More specifically, a hardware failure of some sort. Here's what you should try first. Turn the XBox 360 power off, disconnect all of the XBox's external cables, reconnect them and power the unit back up. If you still see the lower right light flashing red, disconnect then reconnect the XBox's hard disk drive cable and power the unit back up. If the same light is still flashing red, power off the XBox, disconnect the hard disk drive cable again and power the XBox back up with the hard disk drive cable disconnected. If the flashing red light goes away, more than likely the hard disk drive on the unit has crashed. You need a new one. With Microsoft's new extended warranty, you should be able to call them at 1-800-4MY-XBOX and arrange to ship the unit back for a no charge repair.

"Two Red Lights Anyone?"
If the 2 left lights in the 4 light circle are flashing red, it means that the temperature inside the XBox 360 unit has exceeded the "safe" temperature operating range. You need to power off the unit and let it cool down. If you don't, you're risking more hardware damage. Also, check to make sure that the cooling fans inside the XBox 360's main unit are operating (you can hear them whirring) and the system has ventilation. Sometimes it's just a matter of putting the XBox on a hard surface (it doesn't like carpeting; tends to reduce cooling), or taking it out of an entertainment console (this also reduces ventilation).

Three Red Lights (aka "The Red Ring of Death")
Three Red Lights is by far the most common of the XBox 360's "Red Lights" problems. What you will see is show in the picture at the upper left corner of this page. The light in the upper-right corner is the only light that does not flash red. This also indicates a hardware failure. A couple simple diagnostics are to check the lights on the power supply. When you turn on the XBox unit, the power supply light should be green even if the 3 lights on the front of the unit are flashing red. If the power supply light is red, you have an electrical problem. Try plugging the XBox 360 unit into another wall outlet and power it up again. If the power supply light is orange, it means that the power supply is not connected to the main XBox console correctly. Try disconnecting the power supply, them reconnecting it. If the power supply light turns green, but the 3 red lights still flash red you need to look into your options for fixing the 3 Red Lights problem (see articles below).

If you want to get your XBox 360 back up and running as quickly as possible, you may want to looking into downloading one of the XBox 360 3 Red Light fix-it guides that are available. I've reviewed the top 4 guides for you at this site.

Xbox 360 Repair - Microsoft, Third Party Repair Service or Do-It-Yourself?

So your XBox 360 has the infamous 3 Red Lights Problem (or XBox 360 'Red Ring of Death' , if you prefer). What's your next step? You've got 3 options:

1. Send it back to Microsoft
2. Send it to a third party repair service
3. Fix it yourself


1. Send It Back To Microsoft?
This is a fairly straightforward decision. If you are still in warranty, bite the bullet and get it fixed by Microsoft. It won't cost you anything and their fix is a good one. There's no guarantee that you won't have any more problems with your XBox 360, but if you do, it probably won't be the 3 red lights problem.

2. Send it to a Third Party Repair Service
The third party repair services sprung up early on when people started having the 3 red lights problem and Microsoft balked at fixing it, throwing out some pretty bizarre statements and blaming everything on the customer. Like Microsoft, the third party repair services will give you a permanent fix (for the 3 red lights problem anyway). They've priced it low enough to make them a viable option, but only if your XBox 360 is out of warranty AND you are not a do it yourself'er. Expect to pay $50-$100 and be without your XBox for 7-10 days.

3. Fix It Yourself
If you are out of warranty and don't mind popping open the Xbox, there are some excellent guides for the do-it-yourself'er. The guides take you step-by-step through a permanent fix that will take you about an hour. The added benefit of learning how to fix the XBox 3 red lights problem is that you can now fix more than one. Many people have started a nice little side business for themselves buying broken XBoxes on eBay, fixing then, and re-selling them. You won't get as rich as Bill Gates. but you'll certainly make enough to finance your XBox 360 addiction (hey, there are worse things to be addicted to). Of course, you should only go this route if you're comfortable going inside your computer and working on it. Personally, I love doing that kind of stuff, but I know it's not for everyone.

I'm in the process of writing a guide that will explain step-by-step how to start an XBox 360 repair business. It's not hard at all, and as I mentioned, it's a nice little sideline to finance your game addiction. I'll post more information on it in about a week.

Here's the best of the XBox 360 Repair Guides.

Good Luck and Good Shootin' !